Chemistry
by Qwerty6452
Summary: "So, Lily-flower, tell us honestly; how do you feel about James Potter?" The moment the cursed question had left Sirius' mouth, Lily felt panic flow through her like a tidal wave. Why did Sirius have to ask that one? Why now, when she had to be honest? And why in Merlin's name did James Potter himself have to be sitting there, waiting on the edge of his seat for her answer? (JILY)


**Hello, all. :) This is my attempt at a Jily fanfic, since I absolutely adore them. It's not my first, but it is my first from a narrative POV, if that makes sense. Anyways, here goes nothing; hope y'all enjoy. :) **

**Disclaimer: JKR owns all. *insert witty comment here* **

* * *

"So, Lily-flower, tell us honestly; how do you feel about James Potter?" The moment the cursed question had left Sirius' mouth, Lily felt panic flow through her like a tidal wave. Of all questions, _why _did Sirius have to ask _that _one? Why now, when she had to be honest? And why in Merlin's name did James Potter himself have to be sitting there, waiting on the edge of his seat for her answer?

~_Earlier that Evening_

"_Wingardium Leviosa_," commanded Lily Evans, waiting for the doorway to swing open and reveal the head common room she and James shared. She was irritable and exhausted; today had not been a good day. When said doorway complied, she eagerly entered the safe haven, tucking herself away from all the stressful schoolwork and overbearing teachers.

"You're back early," came a familiar voice from one of the overstuffed armchairs by the fire. "What happened to going to the library to catch up on Transfiguration?" To accompany the question, the face of a bespectacled teenage boy appeared over the back of the armchair, hazel eyes looking curiously at Lily from behind rectangular, wire-rimmed glasses.

"Gave up," Lily mumbled, dropping her bag onto the floor by a second armchair with a heavy _thud. _"I'll study during lunch hour tomorrow, or something." Lily followed the statement by collapsing into her chair and propping her feet up on the low table stretched out between the two chairs and a small couch.

"Lily Evans? _Not _studying until midnight?" James gasped, doing his very best to look scandalized. "I never thought I'd see the day!"

"Stuff it, Potter," Lily rebuked half-heartedly. "I don't have the energy to argue with you right now."

"That cut deep, Evans," he replied, holding a hand over his heart dramatically. "And here I thought we were just getting to be friends."

Though Lily had never thought she'd live to see the day, it was true. She and James _had _developed an odd sort of mutual friendship. At first, they'd just made an effort to be civil toward each other, seeing as they had to spend so much time together now as Heads. But all that time and a (mostly) civil attitude had led to friendship, which Lily found herself immensely grateful for. James, much to her surprise, had turned out to be a very reliable and trustworthy friend.

Well, most of the time. They still bickered (falling back into the old habit of calling the other by their last name when such occasions arouse), and James was still an insufferable flirt (though he never actually asked her out any more), so Lily supposed some things hadn't changed one bit.

_BANG! _

With a jolt, Lily fell from her chair, scrambling to her feet and reaching for wand out of years of habit. It took her now fully-awake mind a moment to register that the threat was, in fact, not a threat at all, but the Marauders. Sirius, Remus, and Peter all stood in the doorway, Sirius especially looking extraordinarily proud of himself.

"Wingardium Leviosa! So that was it- way to go, Moony!" He crowed, strutting into the room. "Told you we'd guess it, Prongs!"

"So you did," James said dryly as the door swung shut. "Congratulations." James, unlike Lily, hadn't moved a muscle. In fact, he didn't even look surprised, just somewhat amused and resigned.

"Lily-flower!" Sirius continued brightly, ignoring his best mate's comment. "Look who's out of the library, for once!"

"It was quieter there," Lily shot back, relaxing back into her armchair. "Books don't go off like gunshots randomly."

Sirius just looked at her blankly before saying, "What's a gunshot?"

"Muggle thing," Lily dismissed, used to the confusion of purebloods every time a saying slipped out of habit.

"Any particular reason you decided to crash here at-," here James broke off to check the time, "-eleven?" A wicked grin spread across Sirius's face at the question, and Remus shifted uncomfortably. Behind him, Peter just looked somewhat resigned.

"Pongs, mate, you won't _believe _the charm I learned today…"

* * *

It was the charm Sirius had learned that led to what turned out to be a very intense game similar to the muggle game, "Truth" (not that anyone had understood when Lily voiced the comparison, but still). The charm was sort of like Veritaserum, but on a much smaller scale. For once thing, the charm wasn't infallible; a skilled liar or an intricate enough lie, and the magic could be manipulated. For another, the charm didn't actually _force _you to say the truth, just made it obvious when you lied. And, of course, it didn't last long. One answer, and then the charm had to be "reapplied".

Still, despite its shortcomings, the charm was strong enough for a simple game of "wizard truth" (as Lily had dubbed it).

It was over the following two hours that Lily learned many things she'd never expected to know about any of the Marauders (Who knew Peter was afraid of heights, or that Remus's first kiss had been Gertrude Brown? No wonder the poor girl was so enamored with him.)

And it was, of course, towards the very end of the two hours that Lily found herself faced with the horrible question: "How do you feel about James Potter?"

It was hardly a fair question, Lily managed to think sullenly through her panic. How could she answer such a question when she hardly knew herself? Of course she found James good-looking, not to mention how much she enjoyed his company, but did she _like _him? And if she did, who was she to say so after six years of shooting him down in every way imaginable?

"Well… erm, that is…" the Head Girl stammered, her mind racing. She couldn't say she did; her pride wouldn't let her, and James would surely never let her live it down. That was, if it didn't completely destroy their friendship first. She rather liked the idea of _them, _when it came to it, but it terrified her at the same time.

"We… I mean…" Lily ground out, her face flaming despite her attempts to look unaffected. Her green eyes scanned the expectant faces in the circle: Sirius, with his smug, knowing expression. Remus, who looked sympathetic, but curious despite himself. Peter, who looked confused, like someone had told a great joke and he had missed the punch line. And then James, who looked expectant, his expression almost hopeful.

Looking at him, Lily didn't have it in her to try to find a way to say "no", even if the charm had allowed it. So instead (picking her words carefully, mind you), she said:

"I think James and I have a lot of chemistry."

Then she shut her eyes tight, waiting for an outburst that… never came. A moment later, she opened her eyes and was greeted with confused, dumbfounded looks all around. It was Peter who finally spoke up after the brief pause.

"What's chemistry?" He asked, blinking his watery eyes at her owlishly.

"It's a muggle thing," Remus answered him, looking just as confused as the other Marauders for once. "A subject, like Charms or Transfiguration. It's a branch of what they call science- we learned about it in Muggle Studies."

"It's a… subject?" James echoed, still looking lost as he exchanged a baffled look with Sirius. "But what does that have to do with…?" He trailed off, looking from friend to friend as if one would magically supply the answer.

"I dunno," Remus admitted finally. "But it must mean something, because otherwise Lily would have erupted into boils or something." At the mention of Lily, all eyes turned back to the redhead, whose relief was slowly growing into elation.

_They don't know what chemistry is. They don't know what chemistry is! Of course they don't- purebloods, the lot of them! _She thought gleefully. Even Remus, a half-blood a_nd _a Muggle Studies student, hadn't heard the saying before- could Lily's luck get any better?

Just then, the clock chimed one o' clock. Lily took the excuse to scramble to her feet.

"Well," she said, not even bothering to hide her relief, "It's getting late. I think I'll turn in for the night- see you tomorrow, guys." And she left all four Marauders staring in confusion after her, three baffled and one James Potter feeling especially cheated.

* * *

Lily saw little of James over the next few days; he spent more time than usual with his friends, and Lily knew they were trying to crack the mystery surrounding Lily's answer. She wasn't worried, not even when she overheard James say,"…please, Remus… know for sure…muggle-born…"

After all, she knew most of the Gryffindor muggle-borns, and knew none of them would cave to the Marauders over something like _chemistry. _

Come Friday, she'd wish she'd worried.

* * *

"James, what are you doing in the _library?_" Lily asked incredulously, looking up to see said boy who was currently casting a shadow over the words in her Transfiguration textbook. "Are you sick?"

"Actually, Lil, I was looking for you," James said, plopping down in the seat next to her. Immediately, three little red flags went off in Lily's mind: for one thing, James _never _came to the library, unless it was important or for exams. For another, he hadn't risen to take the bait and tried to tease her back. And, last but not least, he'd called her "Lil".

Last time he'd called her that, he'd assured her that Gryffindor would win the next Quidditch match. Lily had argued (naturally), and it turned out the seeker for the other team had gotten a concussion in Defense Against the Dark Arts. With no seeker, Gryffindor had creamed their opponents easily, just like James had said they would. "Lil" was reserved for confident James; it slipped into his vocabulary when he knew something he knew Lily didn't, when he was confident he had the upper hand. Suddenly uneasy, Lily tried unsuccessfully to return her focus to her textbook.

"Oh?" She asked, hoping her voice didn't betray her apprehension.

"Yep," James continued cheerfully, almost casually. "See, Remus has been talking to Gertrude Brown."

"Lovely for Gertrude," Lily mumbled, trying in vain to see where this conversation was going.

"Gertrude's a muggle-born, did you know?" James informed her, a little smugly. Lily's legs suddenly felt like jelly; she had a horrible feeling she knew where this was going. With flourish, James pulled a slip of paper from the pocket of his school uniform and unfolded it. From next to him, Lily could clearly see Gertrude's neat, slanted cursive scrawled across the parchment.

"_To have chemistry," _James read, a wicked grin making its way across his face, "_essentially means that the two people in question would be a good couple, or are at least attracted to each other. They 'click'." _He folded up the page and slipped it back into his pocket, looking over at Lily confidently.

Lily opened and shut her mouth several times; for once, she was truly speechless. What on earth was she supposed to say to that?!

"How did you put it again?" James mused, apparently unperturbed by her stunned silence. "Oh, yeah. Wasn't it something along the lines of, '_I think James and I have a lot of chemistry_'?" The tall, black-haired boy leaned closer to Lily until their knees touched.

"You like me," he murmured. His eyes were bright behind his glasses, and Lily realized that he wasn't just happy to have figured it out; he was thrilled with the answer, too. The realization seemed to give her back her voice and snap her back into the moment.

"There's such a thing as _bad _chemistry, you know," Lily argued weakly. It was a terrible argument, and she knew it.

"Yeah, but you didn't say _'James and I have a lot of _bad _chemistry_', did you?" James teased, still grinning widely. "You could've just said you liked me, Lil. You know I would date you in a heartbeat."

"I… um…" He was very close now, and it was distracting. Lily blinked a few times, trying to clear his hazel gaze from her vision so she could focus and hopefully _not _sound like a total idiot. "We're friends, James. That's all." She didn't sound very convincing, even to her own ears. James, certainly, was not swayed.

"Do 'just friends' have chemistry?" The Head Boy asked cheekily.

"I- well," Lily stammered. "I suppose they _could._"

"Could they really? Even if they both like each other?" James prompted. He was close enough that Lily could smell his aftershave.

"Maybe?" Lily asked, hating how it came out as a question.

"Prove it," James dared, and then his lips were on hers and _sweet Merlin, _Lily could barely think straight, let alone push him away. In fact, she found herself kissing him back. Then _he _pulled away, a grin of pure, unbridled joy on his face.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," he said, almost laughing in disbelief. Lily just blinked at him, before plucking up her courage and finishing what he'd started.

"James?"

"Hm?"

"There's a chance that maybe, just maybe, you were right this time," Lily said slowly.

"I always am, love," James said easily. Then he frowned. "Wait, about which part?"

"Maybe close friends with chemistry don't just _stay _friends," Lily finished, her voice finally firm, thank Merlin.

"Ah," James nodded vigorously, his eyes lighting up. "'Course not. In fact, we should probably test that theory."

"A chemistry experiment?" Lily hummed, all her previously well-thought out objections flying out the window. Because really, they were both in too far to stop now.

"Sounds good to me," he agreed sagely. "We should start on that immediately. You know, to make sure we collect enough data."

"Of course," Lily agreed.

After that, there was little talking of anything- chemistry or otherwise. You could say both were a little preoccupied.

* * *

**Whelp, hope y'all enjoyed… review? **

**Until next time, **

**Qwerty :) **


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